Dulce Et Decorum
by AstroProf
Summary: The Federation is facing a challenge. Can the ideals created in 2161 survive a civil war more than three centuries later? Features a Xindi-Aquatic who is friends with an Andorian. R&R.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE  
  
~ So That You Are Not Completely Confused ~  
  
Up until the year 2377, the fate of the Federation has been well known to us. But, following the Dominion War and the celebrated return of the USS Voyager from the Delta Quadrant, things started to change.  
  
The Federation's Starfleet began to grow more and more militaristic, as scientific endeavours dropped from focus. Private companies made most discoveries then sold them to the Federation Government. Because of the delay this produced (in order to make most money, the companies held technologies back to let a gap in the market open up) rival galactic civilizations such as the Romulan Star Empire began to overtake the Federation.  
  
But, just because they were falling behind in technology didn't mean that the Federation lacked military might. New classes of starship began to assemble which, like the Galaxy-class of the 2360's, didn't pilot new technologies but rather combined existing ones. Examples of these included the Virgin-class corvettes, the Dark Star-class destroyers, the Cairo-class battle cruisers, and the Avatar-class battleships. In fact, over the period leading up to 2450, only one new type of science ship was commissioned: the advanced Angel-class.  
  
As tensions with the Romulans built, the vein of peaceful leaders began to decline; first Jaresh-Inyo resigned, then the slightly less pacifist Karat of Vulcan took over, and so on until, in 2450, former Starfleet Captain H'taren Groving, a half-Klingon, took leadership. Many thought this to be an unfair ballot, and there were protests on many worlds, including Trillius, Betazed, Bajor and even Earth. When these were met with violence on behalf of Starfleet, there was an uprising, at the end of which the Federation split into two halves; the New United Federation Of Planets, still operating under President Groving, and the Free Coalition Of Worlds, with Betazed as the capital under a one-quarter human Betazoid named W'fregga Doloren, who took up the role of "Chancellor."  
  
The year now is 2477, exactly one century after the jubilant return of the USS Voyager from the Delta Quadrant. The Civil War is still going on, uninterrupted by the gleeful Romulans, who are quietly building an armada of warships to attack the warring alliances. The NUFP has been "annexing" planets and species, not least the Xindi of the Delphic Expanse, who fled the expanding dimensional cloud that absorbed their colonies. The Free Coalition, on the other hand, has been inviting races to join with them for prosperity and strength. Many have taken them up on the offer, most notably the Tzenkethi. The sides are now roughly equal.  
  
You are about to witness a turning point in the Federation Civil War, as three ships each of both of the Coalition's Astra Science Navy and the Federation Starfleet meet on the border. The Federation sends the Anubis, the Enterprise-G and the Sparrowhawk. The Coalition sends the Evangeline, the Voyager-C and the Discovery.  
  
Sparks will fly. 


	2. Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE  
  
The thirty-fourth Ferengi Rule of Acquisition is "War is good for business."  
  
Mind you, the thirty-fifth rule is "Peace is good for business."  
  
That tells you a lot about the Ferengi, but it also tells you a lot about war. If a people are at war, the economy may improve, at least temporarily, through panic bulk buying in case of some kind of breakdown. If this never happens it's good for the merchant. Hopefully peace, and a stable profit margin, will return soon. The point is that in wartime, people panic.  
  
Riffel wasn't panicking. He was lying upside down in his specially customized shuttlecraft full of water, and dreamily contemplating life. Riffel was a Xindi-Aquatic, the only species of Xindi to side with the pacifist Free Coalition in the Federation Civil War. Pacifism quite suited the Aquatics, but not their cousins the Reptilians or Insectoids. Both of those species were active members of the New Federation, the Primates and Arboreals less so. But the Aquatics wanted peace, and had joined the Coalition to get it. As the first of his race to serve in the Astra Science Navy, Riffel was quite a symbol. He was happy about that, but didn't want special treatment. He'd learned to speak Federation Standard language, and tried to fit in with the crew. Not easy when you live in a glass tank most of the time.  
  
Riffel swam over to the operations panel and hailed his ship, the Discovery. It was an Angel-class science vessel, of which he was chief of communications. His friend, an Andorian woman named Lieutenant Commander Fligi, answered the hail.  
  
"Shuttlecraft Janeway calling Discovery."  
  
"Discovery here. What's your status?" asked Fligi.  
  
"Preparing to dock. Please open doors to Shuttlebay One."  
  
"Standby."  
  
As the small craft took an elegant curving trajectory, Riffel gazed up at the spherical primary hull. It never ceased to amaze him, this beautiful ship.  
  
Shuttlebay One, a large facility on the front of the ship, was full of traffic. Cargo and personnel craft zoomed in and out, leaving the bay barely time to pressurize before another docking was in progress. Riffel drew in alongside the Shuttlepod Worf in the starboard end of the bay, and began to fit his hydro mask around his gills go he could get to the tank in Comms. Suddenly, Fligi appeared and knocked on the door. Riffel, grinning, finished fitting his mask and emerged.  
  
"Hey, Riff," said the Andorian as he slid down onto the floor. "How was the conference?"  
  
Riffel shrugged, a difficult feat for a marine creature. "Same old babble about covert transmissions. Nothing I hadn't already heard about. Bajor was nice, though. I had a lovely swim in the ocean, and found some other aquatic beings. Not Xindi, you understand, and not technological, but they were quite smart."  
  
Fligi nodded. "Most planets have something like those. Earth has its dolphins, Andoria has its kilidit fish – I expect you Aquatics once filled that role on the Xindi homeworld, but evolved further." At this Riffel chuckled, smacking his flippers together. By this time they were out in the corridor, heading towards the turbolift. Riffel nodded to two ensigns from his department as they passed, just as Fligi said, "We have some more news about the Federation."  
  
Riffel tensed. Any news about the rival faction made him nervous. "And?"  
  
"They're amassing an armada," said Fligi emotionlessly. Her antennae twitched, as they always did when she was nervous. "Three ships have been assigned as a scouting party, and their heading toward the border." The pair entered the turbolift.  
  
"Never mind, Flig," said Riffel, trying to cheer her up, while also saying, "Deck Nine" to the elevator. "I'm sure whoever we send will whip their nacelles so hard –"  
  
"Riff!" said Fligi urgently. "It's US!"  
  
Riffel froze. "What?"  
  
"We're the ship second nearest the border. The Voyager-C and the Evangeline have been sent to accompany us, but – well, they've sent a corvette, a destroyer and a battleship. I'm not sure –"Fligi was almost in tears.  
  
"Flig, it'll be fine," said Riffel, although his credibility was hurt by the fact that he was still shaking. "The Evangeline will deal with the battleship, Voyager will tackle the destroyer, and – well, we could thrash a corvette any day. We're four times the size of one!"  
  
Fligi sniffed, and looked up. "You think so?"  
  
"I know so," smiled the Aquatic. The lift stopped, and Riff got out. "See you in the mess hall after the shift," he said.  
  
As he was leaving, Fligi said, "Thank you, Riffel."  
  
He turned his head. "Any time." 


	3. Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO  
  
Riffel was glad to slip into the cylindrical tank in the middle of Communications Central. The walk from the Shuttlebay had dried him up quite a bit, so he spent the first few minutes just flipping around in the tank. All around him, lieutenant junior grades, ensigns and non-commissioned officers were pressing buttons and running scans. They were all wearing earpieces in accordance with protocol, but they were talking out loud themselves as well. The tank muffled the cacophony, but to Riffel it was still a dulcet symphony of these humanoid voices.  
  
Just then, his deputy, Lieutenant Boyd, approached the tank. "Welcome back, sir," she greeted him.  
  
"Good to be here, Miss Boyd," said the Aquatic. "How were things while I was away?"  
  
"Not bad. The frequency analysers went offline, but Ensign J'nar got them back. He's a great guy, that Vulcan. For a former Federation officer, he's very co-operative. He works well with the rest of the crew, and sometimes I think he shows a sliver of emotion." Both lieutenants regarded the young ensign as he tapped away at his control panel.  
  
Their musings were interrupted, however, by a bleeping from one of the small panels in the tank. Riffel swam over to respond. It was the little box that acted as his combadge, since he didn't wear a uniform. "Riffel here."  
  
The voice of Captain Mordecai Olchab, the first human/Trill hybrid to host a symbiont, came in over the comm link. "Lieutenant, we need you up here right now."  
  
Riffel started. "Okay, just let me get my mask–"  
  
"No time," said the Captain urgently. "Prepare for a site-to-site transport."  
  
The next thing Riffel knew, his tank on the Discovery's bridge was materializing around him. To his right were a multitude of screens, each depicting a comm frequency of some sort. To his left was the rest of the bridge. He could see Fligi at one of the four science stations at the back of the room, tapping at a display titled "Subspace Vacuole Simulation." This was a Xindi technology that both the Federation and the Coalition had been experimenting with. Obviously, the Discovery was planning to try a test run.  
  
The captain approached the tank anxiously, his long black hair making a striking contrast to the bright red uniform he was wearing. "Lieutenant, good to see you. Look, we need you to hang about here for the duration of the battle we're heading into. I have to know what those two ships are saying to one another. Comms responsibilities are at your station, not Ops, and I want the frequencies we use to contact Voyager and the Evangeline as densely coded as Species 8472's DNA, is that clear?"  
  
"Crystal, sir," said the Xindi, as he went about coming up with an elaborate code based on a Vulcan lute concerto, which Ensign J'nar had introduced him to. It amused Riffel to base codes on obscure pieces of music. Suddenly, a hailing light bleeped on the behemoth interface grid that stretched out on the front wall of the tank.  
  
"Captain Olchab, the Evangeline is hailing us. Voyager's on a matching channel."  
  
"Give me picture-in-picture on the main viewer," said the Trill. "Let's see what we want to be doing."  
  
On the main viewer and on two of Riffel's screens, the faces of Admiral McKenzie and Captain Bhea Dax appeared. The Admiral spoke first.  
  
"Let's not beat about the bush, Captains. You both know what to do. You will jointly attack both the Sparrowhawk and the Anubis, while the Evangeline will tackle the Enterprise. It won't be easy, but we'll show those militant goons what we're made of." A chorus of "hear, hear" s erupted on all three bridges, as Admiral McKenzie terminated the link. Captain Dax's grinning visage filled the main viewer.  
  
"So, Olchab. What do you make of this?" asked the Trill. "I've never seen such an evenly matched pair of attack groups in all my lives, even with Jadzia and Ezri in the Dominion War."  
  
"Well, we all know who triumphed there," said Olchab, grinning. "It was the people who had Dax on their side!"  
  
The other Trill gave a tinkling laugh. "Oh, stop it," she giggled, and broke the link.  
  
Olchab squared his shoulders and sat down. It was barely ten seconds before the operations officer said, "Sir, the Enterprise-G and the Sparrowhawk are in visual range."  
  
"Red alert, on screen," commanded the first officer, a short Bajoran woman named Okra. The two ships winked onto the main screen. The Enterprise, Avatar-class (like the Evangeline) was a massive battleship, with four nacelles behind it and a niche in the primary hull for the deflector, like the old Nova-class science vessels. The Sparrowhawk was a smaller, sleeker destroyer, with only two nacelles and a more conventional frame, except that the primary hull was actually lower than the nacelles, like the very first Starfleet vessel to be commissioned, the Enterprise NX-01.  
  
"Helm, take is closer to the Sparrowhawk. Mister Riffel, keep a voice channel with Voyager at all times. Where the hell's the Anubis?" The Captain tapped his foot impatiently, something the symbiont's last host, a doctor whom they'd all met when he had passed his symbiont on to Mordecai, had done when he was nervous. Commander Okra stood up to try to calm him down.  
  
"I expect it hasn't decloaked yet, sir," she soothed. The Captain nodded, just as Dax's voice came over the comm link.  
  
"Alright, Olchab. Are you up for Tactical Pattern Sisko Lambda Seven?" she asked.  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be," muttered Mordecai, and signalled the conn officer to execute the pattern. "Mister Nolgen, load quantum torpedo tubes six through ten, and positron missile launchers three and five," he told the tactical officer. "Activate metaphasic shield. Ready forward phase de- atomizers. Fire on my mark."  
  
As Voyager and the Discovery both swooped in, the Sparrowhawk turned herself around and abruptly fired nucleon beams at the two ships. "Shields at ninety-six per cent," barked the tactical officer, "and Voyager's are at ninety-three."  
  
"They're just warming up," said the captain grimly. The Sparrowhawk swooped around, and fired a full spread of quark torpedoes at the Discovery. (Note: Quark torpedoes are a form of antimatter explosive four times more powerful than a quantum torpedo.)  
  
"Shields at sixty-one per cent!" shouted Nolgen, just as Voyager fired a spread of positron missiles. (Note: These advanced fusion explosives are about half as effective as a quark torpedo.)  
  
The Sparrowhawk went in a huge loop away from the ship, exchanged a little fire with the Evangeline, which was going head-on with the Enterprise a short distance away, and came right back round. Voyager and the Discovery then pounded it with phase de-atomizers, taking the shields down a little further. Then, just as the morale of the two bridge crews started to increase, a smaller ship materialized right on top of Voyager. Its registry read, "USS Anubis NCC 112786."  
  
It took Voyager's crew a few seconds to react, during which the Anubis had already knocked their shields down to forty per cent. After what seemed like an eternity, Voyager went belly-up and used her ventral de-atomizers to cut into the Anubis' metaphasic shield. Protecting her now vulnerable belly, Anubis twirled like a ballerina and zoomed toward the Discovery. Hoarsely, Captain Olchab shouted, "Fire quantum cannons!"  
  
The two large and powerful energy weapons on Discovery's dorsal hull exploded into life, expelling huge balls of white-hot superplasma right into the face of the Anubis. Voyager followed suit with her far more powerful array, blazing at the Sparrowhawk, which in turn zoomed out of the way. "We can't do that again for a bit," said the tactical officer. "They'll need some time to cool down."  
  
In fact, the destroyer kept going, until it reached the Evangeline and the Enterprise, who were still in something of a stalemate. Voyager barrelled after it, racing pell-mell toward the new fray. The Anubis, however, stayed with the Discovery. The two ships circled one another, like cats. Then the much faster Anubis dropped a few quark torpedoes right in the path of the Discovery. "Shields at twenty per cent!" shouted the now-hysterical Lieutenant Nolgen.  
  
Commander Okra pointed wildly at the screen and shouted, "Positron torpedoes, full spread!" The missiles exploded when they came into contact with the Anubis' shield grid. Okra smacked her forehead.  
  
"The bastards inverted it!" she cried. "Right, well this should help us. Quick, Mister Nolgen, get some de-atomizer blasts in."  
  
Two glittering subatomic energy beams blasted right past the shield grid of the Anubis, which had been specially modified to repel solid objects – but let energy weapons past. Before the crew could switch it back to normal, the Discovery's de-atomizers had disintegrated the aft half of the starboard nacelle. Crippled, the Anubis suddenly shimmered out of sight. She had gone under cloak.  
  
The entire bridge crew of the Discovery breathed out. Captain Olchab reluctantly ordered the ops officer to send out an ionic de-cloaking pulse, which failed to reveal the Anubis. "They must have gone to warp," said Okra. Mordecai shook his head.  
  
"I'm not so sure we've seen the back of them." He sat down. "Helm, bring us about and pull us into the fray. We want to give Voyager and the Evangeline a helping hand."  
  
As the Discovery pulled herself about, Captain Dax came in over the comm link. "Discovery, this is Voyager. Please assist. Shields have failed, and the Evangeline is losing power too."  
  
"Charge quantum cannons," ordered Mordecai. "Target the Enterprise and fire."  
  
The renewed plasma weapons burst forth again, slamming their cosmic fireballs into the shields of the battleship. Meanwhile, Voyager backed off, but the Sparrowhawk chased her in and out of the nacelles of the two larger battleships.  
  
"Now would be a very good time to help," Captain Dax screamed, as three simultaneous quantum blasts hit Voyager's tail end. In a desperate bid to distract the Sparrowhawk, Olchab ordered the conn officer to fly right between her nacelles. Everyone held his or her breath as this manoeuvre was executed – but the ensign at conn pulled it off, and was even given a "well done" by Commander Okra, a rare achievement. The general relief was short- lived, however, as the quantum cannons on Sparrowhawk's dorsal hull fired straight up at the ill-prepared Discovery. The blast rocked the ship.  
  
"Shields down!" reported a frantic Nolgen. "Hull breach imminent on Q- Deck."  
  
Riffel looked at the reports flooding in on his screens. "Injuries reported on all decks. Fires are breaking out in engineering and in the minor armoury on F-Deck." Another blast rocked the ship.  
  
"Alright," said Mordecai. "Commander Fligi, open up a subspace vacuole to the nearest system on our side, which I believe is the H'nori Colony?"  
  
"Yes sir," said the Andorian, and keyed in a sequence. An ethereal glowing energy portal opened in front of the ship, and it barrelled through, with the Voyager tumbling after. 


	4. Chapter Three

At the New United Federation of Planets Headquarters on Vulcan, in the building which had once housed both the T'Pau Logic Foundation and the Vulcan High Command, Captain Charlotte Finn straightened her blue tunic. She was about to deliver bad news to the Starfleet Chief of Staff, arguably one of the most powerful men in the Federation.  
  
The PADD she was carrying displayed the words "Covert Activities Report" but the rest of the text wasn't visible, for obvious reasons. She felt uneasy, carrying a handheld phase de-atomizer weapon in a holster like a security guard, but the Fleet Admiral was getting a bit paranoid in his old age.  
  
He even lived in a holosuite for the time he was at HQ, because, as he had said – what was it? Ah - "reality makes me nervous." She took a deep breath – and walked in.  
  
At first glance, she appeared to have walked out of a turbolift onto the bridge of an archaic starship, possibly pre-Dominion War. The room was under Code Red conditions - or, she supposed, Red Alert for this period. There were flashing red lights and it was dark. Nobody was sitting in the Captain's chair, or manning any of the stations – except Ops.  
  
"Admiral." Charlotte straightened up. "With all due respect, sir, shouldn't you be sitting down? Doctor Myo said –"  
  
"I don't care what Myo said! I want the Doctor. The REAL Doctor." The old man lowered his head over the ops console. Charlotte sighed. She hated messing with her mentor's mind, but it had to be done if she was going to get through to him.  
  
"Stand up straight and pay attention, Harry!" she said, doing her best Kathryn Janeway impression. Admiral Kim stood up straight in an unnatural manner. It wasn't something the old woman would have said had she been alive, but it got his attention.  
  
"Yes ma'am." Charlotte shook her head.  
  
"No, sir. It's me, Commander Finn." She smiled. Harry looked relieved.  
  
"Oh, Charlie. Am I glad to see you! Good news?"  
  
The communications chief shook her head. "Sorry, sir. The Sparrowhawk's crew just got picked up by one of our battleships, the Desperado. The Anubis is missing with only half a starboard nacelle, and the Enterprise is still duking it out with the Evangeline."  
  
The tired officer breathed in. "What about the Discovery and – and that ship, that ship they had the AUDACITY to call Voyager? Destroyed?"  
  
"Escaped."  
  
"NO!" Harry was going red. Finn looked at him worriedly.  
  
"Calm down, Admiral."  
  
"Charlie, I want it destroyed. Promise me. Promise me you'll destroy it." He looked at her seriously, the light from the ops console bouncing off his wrinkled face, making great black shadows.  
  
"I –" She hesitated. "All right. I will. I will personally put together a task force from Prometheus-class and Avatar-class ships. A tactical squadron. We'll strike at the H'nori Colony, and take out Voyager. On one condition."  
  
"What's that?" mumbled Harry. He was close to tears.  
  
"Promise me you'll take a vacation. Go to Earth, see it again. You're spending too much time with the pointies."  
  
"That is a racist remark, Miss Finn," muttered Harry gruffly, but he was smiling. Suddenly, there was a beeping noise from the ops console. "We're being hailed."  
  
"Who by? It's a holodeck!" Charlotte exclaimed as she went round to Ops to look over Harry's shoulder.  
  
"Someone in the office has routed a shuttle communication from the T'Krut defence grid satellites to the hologrid." He tapped a few buttons. "On screen."  
  
The interior of an old Delta Flyer-class shuttle came on the screen, and it was only when she noticed the "Captain Proton" flight panels that Charlotte realised that this was the original Delta Flyer. A very old woman sat in the pilot's chair, and a bald man she couldn't quite place sat at tactical.  
  
"Harry!" The woman crowed. She looked quite humanoid, but she had pronounced horns protruding from her forehead. Ktarian? Charlotte wondered. Then the man also piped up.  
  
"Keeping in good health, are we, Mister Kim?" he asked. Then it hit her. Voyager's EMH – the Doctor!  
  
"Naomi! Doc!" Harry's voice cracked with emotion. Then he hardened. "I have nothing to say to you."  
  
"Oh, come on, Harry," Naomi swatted his rebuttal aside. "Humour two old defectors."  
  
"I'm amazed the Flyer's still up and running after the beating your destroyers gave it," the Doctor cut in, trying to make conversation. "The late Mister Paris would not be pleased."  
  
"Well, it serves you right for stealing it from the surplus depot," said Charlotte. Harry was about to silence her when Naomi turned.  
  
"Oh, so who's this? A Starfleet lackey? Take my advice, dear – the Coalition uniforms fit much better."  
  
"She'll wear one to warm her up on a cold day in hell," the admiral retorted.  
  
"Look, Mister Kim, we need a favour." The Doctor broke in to pacify the bickering trio. "We heard from – well, never mind where – that Annika wasn't well. Please – let me see what I can do for her."  
  
"NO!" shouted Harry. "Get out of Federation space, you traitors! Look who comes in this hour of need, when everyone except Annika, the Captain and me defected. A hybrid girl who was never an officer on that great ship Voyager, and a clapped-out, obsolete hologram. Annika is fine. She's just got to the end of the road, even with all that Borg technology. You can get out of our space and go back to Betazed, you TRAITORS! To think you once operated on me, I once entrusted you back-stabbers with my LIFE! The Captain must be turning in her grave!"  
  
And with that, he collapsed. 


End file.
